Wine Resolutions for the New Year

We’re into the first real week of 2020 and I’m sure all of you are still focusing on your New Year wine resolutions. By the way, who else thinks it’s unfair that January 1st came on a Wednesday this year? Don’t they know that you can only start regimes and routines on Mondays?

Anyway, around this time last year I did write a blog titled Have You Made Your New Year Wine Resolutions? The blog reminded readers that wine doesn’t usually have its own annual resolution. So, I went on to outline my list of possible wine resolutions for 2019.

This year, I want to do that again. Whilst some of the suggestions may overlap, I have a few new ones as well. If you’re going to read this post in its entirety, then the chances are that you love wine.

Maybe then, also, you might be able to stick to the New Year wine resolutions outlined below. I certainly intend to do so.

Try Some or All of These New Year Wine Resolutions

Here are 12 wine resolutions that might help your 2020 be a great wine year. Good luck with all your other resolutions as well.

• Improve Your Wine Knowledge – even a little more knowledge will help your overall experience.

• Don’t be a Wine Snob – Everybody has their own taste and favourite tipple. Say nothing unless asked for an opinion.

• Visit a Vineyard – see if your choice of foreign holiday has an opportunity to visit a local vineyard.

• Try New Wines – I always say love the wine you’re with, but this year try and broaden your taste.

• Buy a €20 bottle instead of 2 x €10 – quality versus quantity.

• Celebrate the International Wine Days during the year with a sample of that Day’s grape.

• Have a Wine Weekend Away with friends –e.g. England has many quality wine destinations or take the Ferry to Spain or France.

• Read some Wine Tasting Notes – then taste the wine yourself and see if you can understand the sentiment.

• Learn a Basic List of Food and Wine Pairings – try them all and find new combinations that suit you.

• Buy a Case of Wine – taste it as it ages through the years.

• Ask for What You Want – come into a specialised wine retailer and talk to an expert.
• Always pay attention to Alcohol by Volume (ABV) on the label. – e.g. 14 ½% is high.

Other Wine Resolutions and Thoughts for 2020

Glassware does make a difference when wine tasting – especially for the pro-tasters. What I would say to the general wine drinker though is to get yourself an easily replaceable, standard glasses that can afford falling victim to rowdy dinner parties.

If you’re not a pro-taster, you’re right, you probably don’t need glasses at €50 each, but you would probably appreciate them, especially as a gift.

I mentioned drinking more water as a general tip in my last year’s blog post and I know we still did not drink enough water in 2019! Drinking water is the second most important part of drinking wine. (Drinking wine is the first, obviously.)

Order more bottles rather than wine by the glass. Remember, a bottle has about four glasses (some say 5) in it, so if there are two of you it’s already worth it. Also, some natural wines aren’t meant to be poured by the glass.

The first resolution above, was placed in that order because I do believe that remembering what you smell and taste, will really help your wine appreciation.

To kick off the learning, here’s a general way to remember 5 common elements of wine:

• Acidity. If your mouth puckers, the wine is probably highly acidic.

• Alcohol level. If the wine tastes “hot” or not evenly balanced, it might be high in alcohol.

• Tannin. If the saliva in your mouth reduces, the wine probably has a lot of tannin.

• Finish. How long does the taste stay in your mouth after you swallow the wine?

• Mouthfeel. Do you get a sense of velvet, wool, silk or oil?

And as always, enjoy it.

Don’t overthink it. There’s enough in the world to worry about, don’t make wine be one of them. If you enjoy tackling any of the New Year wine resolutions above, then you will be well on the way to achieving them in 2020.

If I can help you in any way, with the wine resolutions suggested above – don’t hesitate to contact any of the wine team here in Green Acres.

As always – enjoy the wine and friends you’re with.

Talk Soon – James.

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